Meet the North East band dubbed ‘ones to watch’ by Radio 1’s Huw Stephens

Katy Wheeler

After whirlwind support tours and national radio hype, Lord Swans have released their debut single, The Plan.

Fronted by Whitburn’s Matt Bulmer, the four-piece indie pop band released the track on iTunes and Spotify, building on stints on the road with rockers Coasts.

They’ve also enjoyed high praise from BBC’s Huw Stephens, who highlighted the band as ones to watch this year on his Radio 1 show.

Citing Biffy Clyro, Foals and alternative punk outfit Lower Than Atlantis as their musical influences, the band has worked hard to make a name for themselves on the gig circuit.

The Plan was penned during earlier struggles to produce music on a shoestring, and they’ve since clocked sell-out shows throughout the region, including a recent gig at The Sage Gateshead.

Describing their live shows as “chaotically powerful and high octane”, the band are now preparing themselves for their busiest summer to date.

Artwork for The Plan

Guitarist and lead vocalist Matthew Bulmer, who started his career in musical theatre aged eight before embarking on the road to rock ‘n’ roll, said: “Our music probably falls into the indie category, but it’s fiery too.

“Our music is volcanic, it’s hot. We get teenyboppers as well as our grandads dancing and losing themselves, which is a good thing.

“Our sound is huge and our music is fun like it should be. If people download our track or come to our shows, they should expect to move – we love dancing like lunatics.

“We’ve been extremely excited about the release of our first single, The Plan. It’s the first time we’ve really been in a position to get into a proper studio and work with multiple producers.

“It sounds quite different to the first demo we put out there, and we’re proud of the progress we’ve made since then.

“It’s about our struggle with the music industry, how having no money is hard and how the industry can be your best friend and your worst enemy.”

The Plan was recorded at the Blast Studios in Newcastle – which has welcomed both Arctic Monkeys and punk legends New York Dolls through its doors in recent times – and was produced by Thom Lewis and Anth Snowdon before being mastered by the globally-renowned engineer Pete Maher, whose past clients include The Rolling Stones, U2, and Jack White.

Matthew added: “We’ve had an amazing year and I hope music fans get into our new track and our band.

“It’s been a thrilling ride so far and the party is only getting started. We’ve come a long way since promoting our band in weird and wonderful ways.

“It doesn’t seem so long ago since we made our Lord Swans stickers and posted them in our local towns to raise some profile.

“Hopefully, our new single will tell what we’re about a little better than those!”

The sticker campaign, which they dubbed Operation Postbox, saw the band post thousands of Lord Swan stickers at 3am on a wet night in Wearside and Tyneside.

The stunt saw a surge of interest on YouTube.

The next record release will be an EP in the summer which will coincide with a national tour.